


a bit of warmth

by toque



Series: spooky wars [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Jango's still warming up to Obi-Wan, Other, So's Arla, like use a microscope, very very slightly hinted jaster/obi-wan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:14:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27260047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toque/pseuds/toque
Summary: Obi-Wan's worst vacation to date.
Relationships: Boba Fett & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Jaster Mereel
Series: spooky wars [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991056
Comments: 45
Kudos: 226
Collections: Spooky Wars Week





	a bit of warmth

**Author's Note:**

> day four of spooky wars: teeth, claws, and other weapons

Obi-Wan was fairly sure that this wasn't what the Council had had in mind when they assigned him this mission. For one, it wasn't supposed to be a mission at all. He and Anakin were on leave from missions, after their last "training" mission where not one, not two, but _three_ separate political factions had decided that if the Jedi wouldn't work for them exclusively then the Jedi shouldn't be able to talk to anyone. Ironically, they'd all agreed on _that_ point when there was nothing in the galaxy that could make them honor a treaty between each other, and he and Anakin had been lucky to escape with a broken arm (Anakin) and a severe case of Force exhaustion (himself).

He wished Plo hadn’t convinced the Council he needed a “vacation.” 

He would have been perfectly happy using Anakin’s injury as an excuse to stay with his new padawan in the Temple, but Plo had explained the concept of a meditative retreat to Anakin, and Obi-Wan’s padawan, having never heard of the concept of “taking a break” had enthusiastically taken up the other Master’s argument. Obi-Wan understood, but he wished he had more than the daily comm to see how Anakin was healing. At least everyone had agreed that he should be back in-Temple before Anakin began going to see his new mandatory mind healer.

Now, looking at the bleak expression of the Captain of Corellia Cruises' luxury spaceliner CSD Ry'leth, Obi-Wan deeply regretted bowing to the Council’s will and taking the tickets from one of Qui-Gon's old friends in the Senate.

"No comms, hyperdrive out, life support possibly on the fritz, is there anything that is working as intended?"

The Captain swallowed nervously and Obi-Wan glanced around at the other crew that had been gathered.

"Well the plumbing seems to be okay," a stocky twi'lek in a janitorial uniform said.

"Thank you. That is certainly a good thing," he replied, softening his tone as much as he could. There was no reason to be rude, although they’d only reluctantly met with him when he mentioned the Senator who had given him the ticket, the Force whispering to him not to reveal that he was a Jedi.

With the status update from the crew, there wasn't much else he could do for the moment, so he left after assuring them that he'd do everything in his power to help soothe the ruffled feathers of other passengers.

Obi-Wan was staring ahead but not actually watching where he was going, so it only seemed reasonable to run into the first person he saw in the hallway.

"Careful there." A hand reached out to steady him when he stumbled after practically bouncing off the armored figure and Obi-Wan nodded his thanks.

"Apologies. I wasn't watching where I was going."

Their head cocked to the side. It was an interesting exercise to rely on visual cues for reading people when he more often relied on the Force. The Mando—and they had to be a Mandalorian, they were wearing full beskar'gam—let their arm drop and asked "What's got your tail in a twist?"

Obi-Wan couldn't hold back a slight grimace at the joke, and the Mando let out a short laugh. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and gave them a small smile. No wonder he’d been prodded away from revealing his Jedi status if there were Mandalorians onboard. Tensions were high between recently reunited Mandalorian space and the Republic. He straightened the deep blue tunic he favored for civilian work and tugged his coat more snugly around his shoulders.

"Unfortunately, that's not a bad way to put it. I just came from a talk with the crew."

He could almost feel their sharpened interest, but it was merely an illusion. Their buy’ce was certainly made of beskar for Obi-Wan’s senses to fail him so hard when he tried to get a read on the Mando’s emotions. "Isn't that a coincidence. I was about to go ask about our delay myself."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'll save you the walk. We're currently waiting for repairs on several systems to get underway again."

"We're not sending out a distress call?"

"It's unlikely with our current position," he admitted. Scenic cruises were more trouble than they were worth, in his opinion, their current close proximity to a nebula a prime example. It would take a miracle for any communications to go through.

The Mando nodded slowly. "That's true. Do you mind if I walk with you back to the concourse? You probably have as much information as they do at this point, and you haven't spooked yet."

Obi-Wan bumped his mental estimation of the Mando's age up by a few years. Most Mandalorians in full beskar'gam knew about their reputation, but most younger commandos thrived on it. Avoiding confrontation when possible was the mark of someone more experienced—and possibly tired of the normal reactions they got. "Sure. If you think I'm leaving anything out, you can go scare the Captain later, after all," he joked.

"That too." There was a quiet humor in their voice that wasn't quite muffled by the helmet’s vocoder.

By the time they reached the common areas, Obi-Wan learned that his companion was Jaster, and that he was now also regretting taking a vacation that had seemed like a good idea at the time.

His daughter Arla, son Jango, and grandson Boba were all on board as well. In return, Obi-Wan traded his own name and travel plans, as well as everything he'd learned from the crew. They weren’t expecting evac for a week. Corellia Cruises was cutting back on smaller vessels and relying on the massive starliners to act as a relay system among themselves, which might have worked if their cruises did not so frequently take them far from more regularly-traveled space.

Jaster seemed just as put out upon learning about the true state of their ship as Obi-Wan had been. That both was and wasn't comforting. They were about to say their goodbyes when Obi-Wan felt the ship rumble ominously beneath his feet.

"Jaster—” the Mando was already reaching out.

The ship fell into darkness. Obi-Wan let himself rock with the ship, carefully orienting himself to the floor with the Force. He gave himself a moment to let his eyes adjust to the thin light of the emergency glowstrips along the molding of the room and outlining doorways, then had to blink away stars as a light clicked on in front of him. When his vision cleared he saw that Jaster had activated the flashlight built into his buy'ce and they were face to face in a surprisingly intimate position with Jaster’s hand at the small of his back to hold him steady. Jaster felt like bedrock, catching Obi-Wan's gaze and holding it until the ship stopped trembling. "I need to get to Boba."

Obi-Wan nodded and they took off at a run for the residential areas. The gaudy emerald and gold siding was much easier on the eyes when he couldn’t see it. They reached one of the larger suites and Jaster pushed the door release. It didn't budge, and Jaster yelled "Jango? Arla?"

The muffled reply from inside the room sounded calm enough, and Jaster deflated a touch at the wry "The door's stuck, buir."

"Ba'vodu is stuck in the 'fresher!" came a gleeful second voice, and Obi-Wan hastily turned his laugh into a cough.

The emergency lights flickered on and the door slid open when Jaster tried it again. Obi-Wan’s first thought was _Cute._

There was someone sitting cross-legged on the bed with a child—likely Boba—who looked like their miniature happily tucked under their chin. They both had dark hair that fell in loose curls on the child but were cropped short on the adult, and warm brown skin. They even had similar-colored eyes, dark brown under the dim lights. Obi-Wan lingered in the hall as Jaster walked in, turning off his flashlight and releasing the catch on his buy’ce. He seemed to realize he’d lost Obi-Wan and turned back around. Jaster’s skin was a few shades lighter than Boba and the other person, and he had lighter hair as well—or at least, the silver dusting his temples and scattered in the short cut made it seem lighter.

“Come on in, Obi-Wan. I think I mentioned I was travelling with my family. This is Jango and his ad, Boba.”

Obi-Wan smiled at Boba, ignoring Jango’s raised eyebrow when he glanced over at Jaster.

“It’s nice to meet you both.”

The sound of another door sliding open interrupted Boba before he could reply, and another person who must have been Arla through process of elimination. She had brassy hair that looked like it was in the middle of rejecting the dye, and she stormed in scowling at Jango. She opened her mouth but quickly closed it again when she saw Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was taken aback by the strength of all the bonds the family members had with each other. It was almost as if one of them were Force-sensitive and strengthening their natural bonds, but there was no obvious light for him to pick up on.

Jaster introduced him, bringing him back to the present, and Arla smiled. “Su’cuy, Obi-Wan. How’d you meet up with Jaster?”

Obi-Wan settled against the doorframe and smiled back. “We had the same idea to go talk to the crew when the first mechanical failure happened, and we were about to split up when the lights went down.”

“So, anything to do while we wait for the mechanics to get here?”

Obi-Wan shrugged. “Not that I know of.” There was a chime from the hall that signalled an announcement from the ship’s internal comm system.

_**“Will all passengers please go to the Meridian Lounge, all passengers to the Meridian Lounge please.”** _

Obi-Wan frowned, but Boba was already tugging on Jango’s shirt for an answer. Jango leaned back so he could make eye contact before answering, “It will be easier to keep the life support systems running if they minimize the area they need to support. They’re not going to rely on systems that are already failing, so it’s a good thing.”

Jango pried Boba away to begin putting his armor on over his clothes, and helped Boba strap on kom’rk and tadun’bur. Obi-Wan was surprised when his sense of Boba muffled slightly when he’d gotten the armor on. He didn’t know the exact ins and outs of Mandalore’s economy, but beskar for a verd’ika seemed...extreme.

“Is there anything you need to grab from your rooms Obi-Wan?” Jaster’s question tugged Obi-Wan’s attention away from Boba and Jango.

“Not at all.” His lightsaber was a comforting weight against his lower back where the harness dug in slightly to keep the profile slim, and the small pouches on his belt had everything else of value that he’d brought.

“Then you should walk with us down to the lounge.”

“Oh! Alright, thank you Jaster.”

Arla finished packing...something, and was slinging a satchel over her shoulder when Jango spoke up. “It’s always good to have an extra pair of eyes. Especially with this one,” he grinned and ruffled Boba’s hair. Boba swatted his buir’s hand away in a huff and Jango flicked his forehead lightly before grabbing his buy’ce and a smaller bag.

“I think we’re set.”

Jaster put his own helmet back on and led the small party out of the room back to the common areas he and Obi-Wan had run through. The Meridian Lounge was a floor down, and was the largest space on the ship apart from the dining hall and cargo bay. It boasted a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall transparisteel viewing port “curved in the style of Mon Calamari cruisers” for a unique perspective to see the sights the cruise proudly boasted of in the travel brochure.

There were already several clumps of passengers in the lounge, and Jaster tucked Obi-Wan along with his family in the corner near the viewport, which currently had its UV shades set to be nearly opaque with their close proximity to the nebula. Their group co-opted one of the couches and a couple armchairs to spread out in, and Obi-Wan watched Arla lay out on the couch using Jaster as a footrest before rustling around in her pack until she pulled out a datapad. Obi-Wan and Jango each took an armchair, with Boba climbing onto his buir’s lap.

Obi-Wan was content to keep watching other passengers trickle in, some escorted by crewmembers and complaining loudly while others found their way on their own and griped in quieter tones. 

A chagrian woman walked in clutching a quivering sheffi to her chest, surrounded by other beings who all screamed “Core-world socialite” to Obi-Wan’s senses.

Boba tracked the sheffi with bright eyes and the sheffi trembled even harder. It tried to tuck closer to its owner, but Jango tapped Boba’s shoulder and the boy reluctantly turned away.

A dug loped in followed by a slender nautolan who held a datapad, as well as a crewmember who was making profuse apologies. Obi-Wan could only vaguely make out what they were saying, a stream of abuse hurled at anyone nearby, and the dug finally waved away the crewmember to bully someone out of their chair across the viewing deck from their little group. Obi-Wan had to rub his temples to try to ease the purely Force-based headache as a few dozen beings who were all frustrated or angry crammed into the lounge. He was desperately grateful for the quiet that Jaster, Jango, and Arla all had with the beskar—even Boba to an extent.

After the dug, it quieted down for a while, and Obi-Wan wished he actually had gone back to his room to grab the datapad that held all of his vacation’s reading material. He was about to ask Arla about what she was reading when a new group burst into the lounge.

“You heard what that crewmember said—it looked like _sabotage!”_

Obi-Wan could have happily throttled the newcomer for speaking in a whisper that carried so much, especially when the stuffy chagrian clutching her sheffi like a stuffed toy leapt on the story.

_“Sabotage?”_

She turned to her companions and began going into hysterics, along with the other well-bred Core socialites.

“You! Mandos!” the dug actually snapped their fingers at Jaster, and Obi-Wan snorted.

“Take me back to my rooms. I have essentials that I will not allow to be stolen on this—this _pirate vessel._ Sabotage. Pah! It’s the crew, making time to go through all our valuables! Mando! I demand your services at once.”

Obi-Wan had a sudden and intense wish for a helmet of his own so he wouldn’t have to hide his reaction to that. They could hire a bodyguard when the only ones who would qualify weren’t presently on their own ruined vacation. Before he could muster up a suitably scathing retort, Jango, voice cool and even through the vocoder, spoke up next to him.

“Sure. The rate’s 500 credits per minute.”

The socialite sputtered, for a moment, but apparently their determination not to get swindled by the crew was strong enough they’d allow themself to get gouged on a personal bodyguard contract.

“Jango—” Jaster’s long-suffering entreaty was brushed aside even before he could finish it.

“If it means they’re not going to keep bothering the crew, I’m going to say it’s for a good cause. We can make it our tip when we leave.”

Jaster sighed, barely audible, and waved Jango off.

The dug, their assistant, and several of the chagrian’s friends all stood up, wringing their hands nervously as Jango picked his way across the room to them. “This everyone?” 

A bith nodded their head and the dug snorted. “I’m not paying for them. They can all make a deal with you later, Mando. Let’s go, before I start having to pay you for talking.”

Jango made a show of playing with his vambrace for a moment. “Clock’s running.” He waited until the dug began walking to follow them out of the room, socialites trailing after the pair like ducklings.

Obi-Wan set his elbow on the armrest and tucked his fist into his chin to do a bit of meditation. There was something here that was wrong—but with this many tempting targets for blackmail, ransom, or political shenanigans in one place, a saboteur wasn’t... _un_ likely. He needed some time to meditate on why the Force seemed so agitated.

* * *

He couldn’t help but jerk in surprise when he felt something hit his knee. “Wha—Boba?”

There was a small child staring up at him with strangely intense focus. “Were you napping?”

Obi-Wan tried to remember what he’d been thinking about and realized that maybe he had dozed off—hopefully just for a moment, but perhaps the calm and quiet of their corner had snuck up on him.

“I think I was. I hadn’t meant to, how long was I asleep?”

Boba shrugged. “I dunno. But ba’buir says buir should have been back by now, and that there’s another group who wants to get their stuff so he’s sending ba’vodu Arla with to look for him. Ba’buir’s gonna go on his own.”

Obi-Wan looked up to see Jaster watching them and raised an eyebrow. Jaster shrugged. “If you could keep an eye on Bob’ika for us, I’d appreciate it.”

Arla tossed him a commlink. There was a hard set to her shoulders that screamed ‘danger.’ “Yell if there’s trouble.” She sounded like she was hoping there would be.

“Jaster—” if Jaster and Arla were leaving Boba with him, then there was something seriously wrong. Mandalorians valued their ade, and _wouldn’t_ simply leave them with a stranger. The forced casual mannerisms Jaster had set Obi-Wan’s teeth on edge. Still, Obi-Wan hesitated before refusing. If there _were_ any problems, he didn’t want to keep Jaster from helping Jango. “Stay safe.”

Another group left in short order with Arla leading them while Jaster took the rear.

* * *

With most of the other passengers gone, Obi-Wan’s headache eased considerably. His shields were close to ground down, and he knew he should have been working on building them back up instead of worrying about Anakin all week, but it was hard to find the focus.

Boba seemed to know there was something wrong, but did an admirable job at hiding his discomfort. Obi-Wan relocated them to the couch so that they could face more of the room, and Boba easily tucked up next to him like he’d known Obi-Wan for years. He asked questions about Obi-Wan’s day-to-day life and seemed enthralled with Obi-Wan’s stories about his “little brother.” Obi-Wan was just finishing telling him about the time he’d taught Anakin how to hold a blaster (for emergencies) when there was a cry in the Force and Obi-Wan jackknifed to attention. 

The faintest edge of a scream cut through the lounge’s semi-relaxed atmosphere like a lightsaber through single-plate durasteel before he could even finish thinking of what to do.

The dug’s personal aide burst back through the doors, blood spatters on their clothes and face, unable to hide the sickly pallor of the nautolan’s already-green skin. “Run!”

They didn’t have time to say anything else as a giant— _wolf?_ —clamped down on their leg and they let out a piercing scream. They dropped to the floor like a puppet with their strings cut and started seizing. The wolf began tearing through the room, snapping at limbs or tearing beings apart seemingly at random. Those it simply bit followed the nautolan into convulsions.

When the beast’s head swung in their direction, Obi-Wan threw his hand out to force it back. The Force slid around it like a faint breeze and he nearly passed out from the effort, so instead he grabbed Boba tight and somersaulted them backwards over the couch. He could feel Boba’s fingers clenched in his tunic and panicked. There was no way he could protect the boy from something like _that._

Sensing _intent_ in the Force, Obi-Wan threw himself sideways, cushioning Boba as he rolled and sprang to his feet, drawing on the Force even though it burned. He was back on the mission, holding Anakin while his senses were spread to a quantum level trying to sense threats that might/could/ _would_ happen and it burned like ice, the Force pouring through him at a rate he wasn’t capable of keeping up forever—couldn’t even keep up for an hour.

He led the wolf on a dance through the ruined room, clutching Boba to his chest. He ignored the _amusement-excitement_ he could feel hanging in the air and reached the door, dodging the nautolan still on the ground. He took one hand away from supporting Boba to make a grab for his lightsaber—only to meet empty air.

The split-second shock that coursed through him was enough.

Boba scrambled out of his hold and something slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling.

He saw a familiar silver cylinder clutched in small hands and Boba’s smile spinning away as he crashed towards the carpet.

He tried to roll away again but with the appearance of the second wolf he was well and truly penned in. He’d barely regained his feet when another blow to the backs of his knees sent him back to the ground. 

The first wolf didn’t give him another chance and Obi-Wan found himself pinned to ground by a giant paw. With a sense of creeping dread, he ventured, “Jaster?” 

Light brown eyes met his gaze evenly, and Obi-Wan hissed as the pressure on his chest increased slightly. His dazed mind thought back to the tall tales Satine had told him about Mandalorian wolves, either a blessing or a curse bestowed or forced upon Mandalorian warriors.

He watched the other wolf—Jango or Arla, he couldn’t tell which—nuzzle Boba before licking a stripe up the boy’s face, and Obi-Wan felt a moment of relief that he hadn’t failed to protect him. He was one of them, they wouldn’t hurt him. Seeing Boba still holding his lightsaber, Obi-Wan stretched his hand out to call it back to him. It shook slightly but the boy tightened his grip and scowled at him. The paw on his chest pressed down again and Obi-Wan forced himself to wheeze out “Stop playing with your food.”

Jaster huffed out an iron-laden puff of air that made Obi-Wan gag before he leaned down. Obi-Wan tucked as much as he could, but that only let him get a closeup of the gleaming teeth in Jaster’s maw.

He felt light pricking as teeth encircled his neck, and he thought _At least it will be quick_ before Jaster closed his jaw.

Obi-Wan could tell the moment the wolf broke skin because it was like being dunked in the heart of a star. His muscles stiffened and his limbs jerked as Jaster kept him pinned to the ground.

At first there was nothing, only pain. 

Then something like the Force—but somehow warmer, more welcoming whispered _changechangchangechange_ in his mind. 

He whined through gritted teeth, knowing that his alpha—Jaster, no, he wasn’t _anything_ to Obi-Wan—would be disappointed if he couldn’t follow the directive. As his bones cracked and his muscles tore he could remember less and less that he shouldn’t be listening to the person that had forced this on him. The paw on his chest was _comforting,_ a warm weight that told him that he wasn’t alone, his pack was near, and the change spread like wildfire as Obi-Wan gave himself up to it.

* * *

Someone was licking his face.

Obi-Wan rolled to the side to get away from the wet, bad-smelling tongue, but there was something in his way. He opened his eyes to see a pup with dark brown eyes staring at him intently. The second the pup noticed he was looking back, it yipped and spun around on too-long legs, nearly unbalancing itself. Obi-Wan tried to stand only to fall over to the side as he tried to contend with having two more legs and being closer to the floor than he recalled. The pup, Boba, he knew it was Boba even if he didn’t know _how_ he knew, was leading him towards the other wolves. There was a light brown wolf that made something in Obi-Wan hesitate before instinct took over and he flopped onto his back, licking at their face.

Jaster nudged him to roll back over and Obi-Wan stood clumsily again. Instincts appeased, he could investigate the room further. Something smelled so _good._

**Author's Note:**

> this has been called "werewolf muder mystery cruise" for so long it feels wrong to title it anything else, but it's not _really_ crack so that felt like it would be false advertising


End file.
